Friend --

May 9th (or May 8th), 2023 is? "Victory in Europe" Day -- a day which was once? celebrated throughout the world as it signaled the hope of peace at the end of World War 2 in Europe -- VE Day.? The US had suffered over 420,000 casualties in that war; the Soviet Union lost over 20-27 million.? Casualties were devastating worldwide, including in the Pacific, even before the unnecessary dropping of the nuclear bomb on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.? ? In Asia, the Chinese government reports 20 million dead, in Japan over 3 million died, and more.

On May 9th, 1945, however,? joy was registered throughout the victorious powers, because finally, after six years,? the Nazis and Axis powers were defeated, and war in Europe was over. The Japanese were on their way to a negotiated surrender.??

Yearly, this hard won victory in Europe, in what the Soviet Union called the? "Great Patriotic War" is recognized all over? Russia.? ?The US used to have celebrations as well.? ?US veterans would join the Soviet celebrations? ?when possible, particularly in remembrance of the US and Soviet pledge during the meeting of troops at the Elbe.? Still,? recognition in the US of VE day has declined year by year.? Why is that the case??

Join us this Friday night to consider why we have stopped celebrating peace, and where this is taking us.?

General Douglas MacArthur, stated, after the surrender documents were signed on the U.S. Missouri, September 2, 1945:? "The problem basically is theological ...? It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."? ?President John F. Kennedy -- a veteran of WWII,?said in his inaugural address in 1961:? "Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.??Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?"

Friday May 12, 2023 Symposium: The Unity That Defeated the Nazis in 1945 - Why Aren't We Celebrating?

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--Diane

www.sareforsenate.com